Persona 3: For Every Soul (Resurrection Edition)
by sykotiksonik
Summary: Minato Arisato returns to Iwatodai, his original home, for the first time in 10 years after the accident. When he is dragged into a group of fellow teenagers fighting the supernatural, he vows to finish it for the memory of his long gone family. But with great power, comes terrifyingly powerful hurdles to overcome.
1. Chapter 1: The Arrival

**Chapter 1: The Arrival  
**

The train was filled with mostly empty seats, save for a few salarymen getting home from their jobs late, and one out of place teenage boy wearing headphones. The world was silenced around him, no sound but the music from his MP3 player.

Solitude, what he had desired all along. But even that wouldn't last forever. And he knew. But he relished in the short comfort he was feeling.

But as the train exited the last of the subway tunnels, he was joined not by a fellow passenger, but a bright blue butterfly outside his window.

And at nearly midnight, the brightness of such a creature against the dark, slightly lit city skyline in the distance was all that was needed to distract him from his thoughts and music. He stared at the creature for what seemed like an eternity.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a particular dormitory, on the third floor, a faucet is running in an attempt to mask any sound. A teenage girl with tears in her eyes is sitting on the floor, breathing heavily and shaking, terrified. In her hand, she holds a gun. She attempts to calm herself and lifts the gun to her head, attempting to pull the trigger. She can't make herself go through with it, dropping the gun to her side and holding her head in her hands, sobbing softly.

* * *

"-dai. Iwatodai. Last call for all passengers. Now arriving at Iwatodai Station. This will be the last stop of the night. All passengers are expected to exit the car at arrival."

Minato Arisato had barely heard the announcement, and was lucky he had. Snapping him out of his fixation with the butterfly that was now gone, he quickly gathered his small bag of belongings and began to stand up. The train slowly came to a stop, the doors hissing as they opened agonizingly slowly, at least in Minato's eyes. He was feeling many emotions, attempting to hide them all behind a mask of apathy. But as he stepped onto the station floor, he realized that one particular emotion was rising above all the rest:

Fear.

* * *

It was December 31st, 1999. Minato was 6 years old, and his family driving home from a New Year's Eve party. He couldn't remember all the details, only that his mother was complaining of a headache and thus his father decided to take everyone home.

Sitting in the backseat of the car with his sister Hamuko, Minato remembers falling asleep, before waking up still buckled in the car. Groggily, Minato looked around to find the sky was green and the moon was unnaturally large and yellow. But that wasn't the scariest thing to him.

His parents were not moving. Stuck in place, as if frozen in time.

In fact, the entire world seemed to be stuck in place.

"Mom? Dad?" Minato unbuckled himself so he could grab his parents arms. "Come on, we have to go home." He began shaking their shoulders, their bodies moving limply like a ragdoll, but not responding. Panic began to set in, as he began repeating himself, begging his parents to respond and shaking them harder and harder, his voice raising every demand.

"*yawn* Mmm, big bro, no yelling..." the groggy voice of 3 year old Hamuko Arisato spoke up.

Before Minato could respond with relief that at least his little sister wasn't frozen, he noticed a scene behind his family's car. A girl was just standing there, in the middle of the bridge, her back to him, staring upwards. Minato was unable to see what she was staring at, and had no chance to find out, as suddenly a violent force knocked Minato against the passenger side of the car, along with the car itself going airborne, and hitting the ground with a violent thud. Minato blacked out and awoke days later, unable to convince any doctor or therapist for years that it was more than just a bad dream.

His parents perished in this accident, his little sister being nowhere to be found, presumed dead. And Minato has lived with these memories and emotions for 10 years.

* * *

Minato sighed as he brushed the memories away. Yes, he was back in Iwatodai, but he had to remember that he himself chose this path. He could have always gone to Shibuya, or Inaba, and even had an opportunity to travel abroad to Lunarvale in the United States, but Minato was adamant.

_I have to do this. I have to come to terms with this._

These inner thoughts of 10 years are what drove Minato to this decision. The long road to recovery could never be complete in his eyes without confronting his past.

"-sponsored by Kirijo Electronics." Minato was able to overhear a PA system as he passed by.

"At the tone, the time will be midnight, 12:00 AM."

"Shit, it's that late already?" A young man holding a can of Dr. Salt could be heard.

"Yeah, guess it's time to head home." Another spoke up.

"C'mon, guys, live a little! We aren't in high school any-" A woman was cut off by the deafening sound of pure silence. A sickening green hue began to overtake the midnight black sky, and the moon began to grow in size.

Minato's eyes widened as he realized in horror, that his nightmares have returned. And he had agreed to walk straight into them.

* * *

_**Author's Notes: Yes, this chapter is much shorter than the original version's, but you can already see how I've changed things up (if you read the original version that is... which I deleted. *chuckles softly*). Anyways, hope you enjoyed, and remember to leave me a review so I can improve upon the later chapters!**_


	2. Chapter 2: Time Waits For No One

_**First, let's answer some reviews! And by some, I mean one!**_

_**RosyMiranto18: **__**Hey, good to see ya, bud! Thanks for the warm welcome back. About Hamuko, if you remember that last chapter I posted of my unused ideas, her situation should be easy enough to figure out how it plays out. But since I deleted the story, that's just between you, me, and anyone else who happened to catch it, so even if you figure it out don't ask or spoil it in the reviews. Who knows, I might change it up a little bit.**_

_**With that out of the way, let's get back to the story!**_

* * *

_Okay, stay calm. Just stay calm. _Minato thought to himself as he walked the blood-soaked, green-lit streets. This was what he came to call a time paradox, but he hadn't gone through this in years. Once Minato left Iwatodai at age 11, he never suffered through it again.

"This damn city is cursed." He thought to himself out loud. No sense in keeping his thoughts to himself, no one can hear him. "Why did I agree to come here?" He asked in vain, knowing the answer. Sighing, he pulled out the map to his new dormitory he was mailed. It seemed that the station wasn't as far from the dorms as initially thought. Taking a moment to memorize the route, he put the map away and began walking.

"It's been so long." Minato mused to himself, looking around sadly. "I used to love walking the streets with mom and dad..." He sighed heavily.

As he continued walking, more and more pleasant memories began flooding his mind, ironically making him feel worse. Trying to shake these unwanted intruders away, he began running, so he can get to the dorm faster and get on with the rest of his life.

_Hagakure, Book On, Wild-Duck Burger... All of these places... Damn it, why did the dorm have to be near HERE of all places!?_

Minato found himself shedding tears against his will. This just made him run faster, his lungs beginning to burn from the combination of running hard and the constant assault of a strong smell of iron everywhere in the air. But finally, he saw it. The dorm included in the reference picture stapled to the map. Minato opened the door and ran into the building, slamming the door and locking it just for extra security.

Gasping for fresh, iron-less air, Minato took a look at his surroundings. He seemed to be in the common room, a TV placed in the corner of two small walls, a large couch sat against the right wall, and what seemed like a dining room table past the TV.

"So you've finally arrived."

Minato whipped his head towards the left, the sudden voice shocking him. Behind what looked to be similar to a hotel service counter, stood a child, looking no older than ten years old, grinning slyly, but with a blank expression on his face.

"I've been waiting all night for your arrival."

"What are you talking about?" Minato's voice wavered in an attempt to stay calm. Too many things were happening all at once for the boy. "Who are you!?"

The child simply chuckled softly. "All will be answered in due time. But as for now..." He waved his hand over the book on the counter of the desk, and it opened itself to a particular page.

"You must sign this contract before proceeding." The boy calmly stated. "Don't worry, all it says is that you'll take responsibility for your actions,"

"You know, the usual stuff." Something about the way that phrase was delivered sent chills down Minato's spine, and he recognized that this "contract", and this child, was anything but ordinary.

"And if I refuse?" Minato asked cautiously. Another chuckle came from the boy.

"Well, then I guess you won't be proceeding. You'll be stuck here until the end of time. No friends, no family, not even me."

"Just you."

Minato shook his head. That wasn't going to happen.

_I don't know what this kid means, but I'm not taking a chance being stuck in this paradox for an eternity._ He took a look at the so called contract, and signed it.

* * *

**Contract**

_Time never waits._

_It delivers all equally to the same end._

_I hereby agree to the statement above,_

_and I chooseth this fate of mine own free will._

**Signature Block: ****Minato Arisato**

* * *

"Excellent." The boy slowly grabbed the contract and began disappearing slowly into the shadows.

"Times waits for no one." The boy began reciting from the contract.

"It delivers us all to the same end."

"You chose this fate of your own free will." The boy was fully immersed in the shadows, his eyes only visible.

"You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes forever." The boy chuckled as the last of his existence disappeared.

"Wait!" Minato shouted.

"Who's there!?"

* * *

_**Author's Note: Ahhhhh, the cliffhanger! I'm going to try to write these chapters as short, but descriptive, so that way I can focus on not getting stuck trying to make the chapters drawn out with lots of stuff going on like the old story. If that disappoints anyone, sorry, but I don't want to abandon this story again! See you guys next time for Chapter 3!**_

_**Side note: I deleted the first chapter, the teaser chapter, as that was... a teaser lol.**_


	3. Chapter 3: It Begins

_**Let's answer some reviews!**_

_**RosyMiranto18:**__** Yeah, the unused ideas was the final update I made for that original story. I think we had a back and forth about it too, but I can't really remember. So let's just take it one step at a time, huh?**_

_**-Yep, the Dark Hour is exclusive to Port Island/Iwatodai, at least in my story. That'll lead to an interesting situation later on.**_

_**-Bookworms is the bookstore, but Book-On is actually a manga shop up on the second (or third) level of the strip mall. I don't believe you can enter it though.**_

_**-Yeah, during the Dark Hour all the water on and around Port Island turns to blood, and since blood has iron in it, a large amount like that would have a heavy iron smell all around the air. SCIENCE!**_

_**I hope I don't take that long for each chapter, but I hope to be fairly consistent regardless. Sorry I deleted the teaser, I didn't feel it was necessary to keep it up now that the story has picked up steam. Catch you next time!**_

* * *

Minato looked to the right, the sudden shouting startling him. He found a girl, in a pink cardigan halfway down the stairs. Her eyes were focused solely on Minato, wearing panic on her face, and he made sure not to make any sudden movements.

"Who are you!?" She yelled, voice wavering in fear. "What are you doing in here!?" She sat her right hand towards her thigh, which Minato then noticed had a gun holster attached to it. His eyes grew wide.

"Woah, let's just calm down. No need for any drastic measures." Minato began stepping forward slowly, arms in the air.

"Don't take another step!" She warned, grabbing her gun. "Don't make me use this!" Minato could tell she was bluffing, but he didn't want to take any chances in this situation and get himself, or her, hurt or worse.

"Look, I don't want any trouble. I recently got assigned to this dorm, and-"

"Yeah right, that's impossible!" Her eyes also grew wide, and despite the uncertainty in her voice, she reached down fully for the gun. Minato had no defense, and was sure he was going to be shot down.

"WAIT, DON'T-" Minato screamed out.

"TAKEBA, WAIT!" An unknown woman's voice rang out at the same time.

The girl looked up towards the top of the stairs, and Minato's gaze followed along. A few seconds later, that felt more like millennia, an slightly older looking woman came down the stairs.

A beautiful woman, in Minato's eyes, with a white blouse, black skirt, and gorgeous flowing red hair. He refused to let himself be taken off guard by the appearance of this woman, however, and remained ready to defend himself at any moment.

She wore a polite, but tired smile. "I didn't think you'd arrive so late."

Before Minato had a chance to open up his mouth, the girl in pink spoke up. "W-who's he?" The newly arrived woman turned her attention to her and responded.

"He's a last minute transfer student. The chairman had no other dorm to place him in, so he'll be staying here for a few days." She turned her attention back towards Minato, bowing apologetically.

"My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, a third year." She said, then directed Minato towards the girl in pink. "This is Yukari Takeba, in the same year as you. You'll have to forgive her for this misunderstanding. This is a female only dorm, and she wasn't informed of the decision. We've had some..." she paused slightly, looking towards Yukari. "Incidents in this area as of late, so we all carry a gun for self-protection."

Takeba cautiously stepped over towards Minato and also bowed. "S-sorry. I hope you don't think any less of us after tonight. Please forgive me."

As Yukari spoke, the green tint of the world went away as the power came back on, the paradox ending. Minato didn't want to argue, but the fact that these two refused to mention the oddity of another person walking around during this paradox made him distrusting immediately.

"My name is Minato Arisato. I won't necessarily say all is forgiven immediately, but I am understanding of the situation." Minato uncomfortably chuckled. "Just try not to point a gun at me next time, huh?"

Yukari uncomfortably chuckled as well. "I'll do my best." Yukari turned back to Mitsuru. "Mitsuru-senpai, is it really okay for him to be here?"

"We'll see in the next coming days, Takeba, but I'm sure he'll be fine."

"With that being said, Kirijo-san." Minato wanted to speak up about a lot of things but figured it was best to save most of his questions for an opportune time. "This letter I received mentioned nothing about a temporary dorm transfer." He pulled out his transfer letter from his bag. "With all due respect, I'm a bit confused."

Mitsuru took his letter and began reading it.

* * *

_**Minato Arisato**_

_**We'd like to extend a hand to you, the top student of your entire grade in Sumaru City, an opportunity of a lifetime to join the illustrious (and exclusive) ranks of Gekkoukan High School on Port Island in Iwatodai! Students who attend and graduate from Gekkoukan are set up for success in life, and this is an opportunity very few get a chance to grab! Living arrangements have already been made in case of acceptance at Iwatodai Dormitory! A map and refernce photo have been included.**_

_**Please call with affirmation at 0xx-xxx-xxxx! We look forward to having you!**_

_**-Shuji Ikutsuki: Director**_

* * *

"I see." Mitsuru handed the letter back to Minato. "As Student Council president, I'll have to speak to Ikutsuki-san about this misunderstanding. Regardless, your room has been prepared, and Takeba will show you to it." She began walking back up the stairs, and continued speaking, not bothering to look back. "I suggest we all get some sleep and prepare for school tomorrow. Good night Takeba, Arisato."

"Come on, follow me." Yukari motioned. Minato followed up the stairs and down the hall, all the way to the end door on the right.

"This is it!" Yukari attempted to insert some joy into her voice, but Minato could tell it was fake. It didn't bother him. She reached into her pocket. "Here's your key. Now do yourself a favor and DON'T lose it! You'll _never_ hear the end of it." Yukari rolled her eyes at that last sentence.

"Knowledge from experience?" Minato asked. Yukari shook her head.

"Not personally, but something I've heard. So, do you have any questions?"

_Thousands, but I'll save them. _"Yeah, does that kid downstairs live here too?" Yukari looked at him, confused.

"What kid?"

"The kid downstairs that greeted me and had me sign some so-called "contract"." Yukari shook her head.

"Minato, no kid lives here. Quit messing with me." Her voice was masked in confusion, suggesting she honestly had no idea what he was talking about. Minato sighed.

"Forget it. I'll be going to bed now."

"Okay." Yukari stepped away before turning back. "Hey wait."

Minato took his hand away from the door and turned back towards her.

"Um... I meant to ask you this but uh... was everything okay? You know, on your way here from the station?"

Minato was surprised at her bringing this up, despite not being brought up downstairs.

"What do you think?"

This was a response Yukari clearly wasn't expecting, and she stammered her way into another apology before hurrying off upstairs. Minato shook his head and walked into his room and found his bed, collapsing on top of it and drifting off almost immediately to sleep.

Tomorrow was the start of his new life. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

* * *

_**Author's Note: In chapter 4, I gave Minato the backstory of being from Kasugayama in Sumaru City (a Persona 2 reference), despite forgetting that I had already stated he was transferring from Osaka. I've decided to keep the Kasugayama backstory and have editied this chapter to reflect this.**_


	4. Chapter 4

Blue.

As Minato's eyes slowly opened, he was greeted not with the sight of his apparently temporary living quarters, but with this color. A deep, almost royal blue surrounded him in every direction.

"What the-?" Minato grunted as he stood up slowly. "Where am I?"

No response. It seemed he was alone. There was a table sitting in front of him. with an empty chair sitting behind it.

"What in the hell is going on?" Minato asked out loud. And almost as if he was being answered, a familiar shape entered his sight. It was the blue butterfly he saw outside the train window. As he stared at the butterfly, a voice rang out in his mind.

_**Time never waits.**_

_**It delivers all equally to the same end.**_

_**You, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it may be...**_

_**You will be given one year;**_

_**Go forth without falter, with your heart as your guide...**_

"Wait a minute!" Minato shouted, looking around. "What do you mean!?"

But he was not answered. The entire area began glowing brightly, including the mysterious butterfly, eventually disappearing in a white flash.

* * *

Minato's eyes darted awake, his dream quickly disappearing from his memory. Confused as to what had startled him awake, he checked his clock and realized it was about time to get up anyways. He figured he should at least try to make a good first impression at his new school, even if he really couldn't care less. He sighed, beginning to get out of his bed and walking towards his dresser.

***Knock-knock***

"Hello? It's Yukari!"

Why was Yukari at his door, Minato wondered. "One minute, Yukari." Minato responded. He continued getting dressed in silence.

***Knock-knock***

"Minato? Please answer the door, or I'll get in trouble."

It made no sense to Minato how Yukari could get in trouble for him not opening his door, but he didn't want to do that to the girl, even if she willing to shoot at him the night before. He opened the door to find her standing across the hall from his door.

"Yukari-san, to what do I owe this visit?" Minato dryly asked, still curious as to why Yukari was at his door this morning.

Yukari rolled her eyes, not amused with Minato's tone. "Well, Mitsuru-senpai asked me to make sure you woke up and make sure you knew how to get to school." Yukari sighed and looked down towards the floor. "She's my senpai AND class president, so it's not like I can say no..." she mumbled.

"Mitsuru-senpai is class president?" Minato asked. Yukari looked up in surprise.

"Did I say that out loud!? Please forget you heard anything!" Yukari finally noticed that Minato was not fully dressed in his uniform. "When you finish getting your uniform on, I'll meet you downstairs. We don't have much time. "

"But I haven't even-" Minato couldn't even finish his sentence as Yukari hurried down the stairs. He sighed and simply closed the door.

* * *

A few minutes later, as he finished getting his uniform on and freshening himself up as best as he could, he gave himself a good look in the mirror. His most notable feature: his slightly unkempt natural blue hair, his bangs covering his right eye in its entirety. His uniform jacket, he decided, would stay unbuttoned as he couldn't be bothered to care enough to button it up. He hated that he had to wear school uniforms, but that was just a fact of the Japanese school system. He'd comply as little as he possibly could. His red tie, another article of clothing he hated wearing, tied loosely to allow as much comfort as he could get.

_Alright, let's go. _Minato thought to himself.

"So, are you ready to go?" Yukari asked as he walked down the stairs.

"You ran off before I got the chance to say I haven't even had a chance to shower this morning, what do you mean ready to go?" He responded in an annoyed tone.

"Well Mitsuru-senpai-"

"Forget about Mitsuru-senpai for a minute, classes don't even start for another hour." Minato checked his phone to make sure he had the correct time. "Correction, hour and fifteen minutes. At least allow me the decency of cleanliness before we rush off."

"Mitsuru-senpai asked me to bring you to school, so I thought we could head out early for a coffee or something and I'd make up for last night..." Yukari replied sadly. "Sorry."

"Why didn't you just say so, Yukari?" Minato sighed. "Look, if you give me 10 minutes or so, would we have enough time to get a quick coffee?"

"Huh?" Yukari was not expecting that response, given Minato's attitude mere seconds before. "Y-yeah, I guess. Paulownia Mall isn't very far from Gekkoukan at all."

"Great, where are the showers?" Minato asked. Yukari simply pointed towards the bathrooms to his right.

"Wonderful." Minato walked into the restroom.

* * *

About 10 minutes later, fully refreshed and ready to go, Minato and Yukari walked out of the dorm together.

"We need to head to Iwatodai Station, and take the line over to Paulownia Mall." Yukari said, Minato checking off names and locations in his memory for later.

"I'm following you, after all." Minato dryly remarked, with a slight smirk on his face.

* * *

_**We apologize for the inconvenience, passengers. Passages to Paulownia Mall will suffer from delays. Again, we apologize for any inconveniences.**_

Yukari sighed. "And I tried dragging you along on this trip. I'm sorry, Minato." She turned towards him and bowed apologetically after deciding not to board the train to Paulownia, and instead board the train straight to Gekkoukan High School.

"It's alright, Yukari." Minato assured. "It's not your fault. We were lucky enough to get the warning _before_ we boarded." Minato chuckled softly at his fortune.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point. So, which school did you transfer from?" Yukari changed the subject, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Kasugayama." Minato answered, staring out the window at the sea.

"Kasugayama?" Yukari questioned. "In Sumaru City?"

"Yeah, that's the one." Minato replied.

"But you don't look like a delinquent!" Yukari responded in surprise. Minato brought his attention towards her.

"So, you've heard the rumors, then?"

"Well, yeah, of course! Everyone has heard how "Kasu High" has so many delinquents at their school!"

Minato chuckled. "Yeah, you can thank those assholes over at Seven Sisters High for that. The story goes that some guy named Tatsuya Suou and his boyfriend spread that rumor to get back at us, and the couple of bad eggs we had there helped it stick."

"His boyfriend?" Yukari questioned.

"Yeah, everybody in the city could tell Tatsuya and Jun were together." Minato chuckled again. "There was one time, me and a few others went over to Shiraishi Ramen, and we found those two assholes and their other friends in our booths, including Mishina, a fellow Kasugayama student. Well, Kagawa and Iwasato, my buddies, were furious at this so called "betrayal" and wanted to beat the shit out of the entire group. There were 6 of them, and 3 of us. So I said "no thank you" and just stood back and watched. They got the shit kicked out of them, Kagawa even got beat up by one of the girls!" Minato started laughing at the memory.

"What's so funny about that?" Yukari half asked, half chastised.

"Kagawa tried so hard to look cool in front of the ladies, but away from them he was kind of a dick, always talking about how much better he is and how lucky a girl would be to even have a chance at him. So for one to kick his ass that hard was hilarious!" Minato calmed himself after the heavy laughter. "So anyway, Tatsuya ends up looking straight at me and asks "You want some too?" and I just said "No, I'm just going to get my ramen. I'm not with those morons."

"You abandoned your friends?" Yukari asked in disbelief.

"You'd do the same, if you were stuck with two morons who thought they can take on 6 people at once. Wasn't my battle to fight, all I wanted was the best ramen in town."

Yukari looked as if she wanted to say something else, but as she looked up she suddenly grew a smile on here face. "Minato, look!" she proclaimed, pointing behind the blue haired teen.

He turned around and saw an amazing sight.

Turning a corner on the railroad, the train brought into sight an extremely large building. Minato's jaw dropped slightly at the sheer size.

"We're almost there." Yukari said as she joined Minato at his window. "This is always my favorite part."

"No way." Minato breathlessly uttered.

"Yep." Yukari cheerfully replied.

_**Attention passengers. We are arriving at Port Island Station. Again, we are now arriving at Port Island Station.**_

"That's our stop!" Yukari said, bringing Minato's attention away from the window. "We aren't far from the school after this!"

* * *

"Here we are!" Yukari practically beamed as she announced their arrival. Minato couldn't believe that the extremely large building was in fact his new school.

"Welcome to Gekkoukan High School! I hope you like it!"

Minato could only stand in awe. He could hardly even overhear his new fellow students walking past him.

"Is that Takeba-san?"

"Yeah, but who's that with her?"

"I've never seen him before. Maybe a new student?"

"I saw them get off the train together."

"Oh yeah? Think they're together?"

"Minato? We should head inside."

Minato's daze was broken, and he quickly began following Yukari inside the building.

* * *

"So, down that hall is the Faculty Office." Yukari directed Minato towards the left. "And over there is the class assignments." Yukari pointed towards the bulletin board towards the center of the lobby. A large crowd of students were surrounding the board, making it very unlikely Minato would be able to get through. "I recommend just getting your assignment from the Faculty Office." Yukari said. "So, any questions before I go?"

"Not really, no." Minato responded. He turned to walk down the hall towards the Faculty Office.

"Minato, one more thing." He turned towards Yukari.

"About last night... don't say anything, please."

"Got it." Minato replied as he walked away.

Minato took note of his surroundings, and the people who will occupy them for the time being. A stern looking student and a female student seemed to both be giving a lecture to a young man in a track suit. Minato assumed it was because he wasn't wearing his uniform. An older man who Minato assumed was a teacher was enthusiastically discussing what sounded like samurai with an obviously foreign student, judging by his accent. With that, he found himself standing in front of the Faculty office door. He sighed, and opened the door.

A woman with short brown hair, and wearing a pale brown outfit looked up from a table. "Hello, young man. May I help you?" She stood up.

"My name is Minato Arisato." Minato introduced himself and bowed slightly. "I'm a transfer student and was told I could get my class assignment here."

The woman simply stared at Minato with a puzzled expression on her face, before lighting up. "Oh, that's right! I did hear about a transfer student!" She hurried towards a filing cabinet. "Let's see here... 'Arisato'! There we are!" Minato assumed that was his file she was pulling out.

"Hm... Second Year student... You've lived in a lot of places, huh? Transferring from Kasugayama is Sumaru City..." She continued speaking to herself. It seemed like she hadn't had a chance to read his file.

"Let's see, it says here in 1999: that was about 10 years ago, right? Your parents- _**GASP**_"

Minato sharply winced. A sensitive subject, he attempted to hold his emotions back.

"Arisato-kun, I'm so sorry." The woman bowed deeply. "I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to read any of the transfer files."

"It's fine." Minato responded softly, not even looking at the woman. She could tell he wasn't happy, but knew better than to press the issue.

"I'm Ms. Toriumi." The teacher introduced herself. "I teach Composition, and you'll be in Class 2-F, that's my class! I hope we can have a great year together."

"Yeah, I guess." Minato responded, beginning to walk out the door.

"Hold on a minute, Arisato-kun!" Toriumi called out to him. "We need to get to the auditorium for the Welcoming Ceremony. Follow me, please."

Minato sighed. "Great." he mumbled to himself. "More things to ignore." He followed Toriumi out of the Faculty Office.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Welcome back! Good to be back in the swing of things.**_

_**RosyMiranto18**__**: I apologize, I did forget to answer your responses to the last chapter. My mistake.**_

_**1) That wasn't Pharos speaking to Minato in the Velvet Room. I'll leave it at that.**_

_**2) I understand that, but Minato didn't.**_

_**3) No, Minato never went to school in the States. He's been through so many schools over the last 10 years, he's grown annoyed at all the different uniforms he was forced to wear.**_

_**4) I didn't realize that, but I'm going to keep it, as something that keeps Minato unique compared to the other male students.**_

_**5) I haven't played that far into Persona 2. I just thought it was a neat reference.**_

_**6a) No, I never attempted to imply that the P2 gang and Minato are the same age, though I never worded it properly. I was attempting to imply that Tatsuya and Jun spread the rumor years ago, and that the story just happened to stick by the time Minato started attending. Since the P2 gang were a well known group in the city by that point, Minato's 'friends' decided to try to "redeem the honor of the school". This was all just a reference to the Megami Tensei wiki describing Kasugayama as a school "renowned for accepting delinquent students, usually expelled from other schools".**_

_**6b) I painted Tatsuya and Jun in a negative light because it was Minato telling the story, and he had to deal with the reputation that those two brought to Kasugayama, so of course he would feel negatively towards the two. In case you were worried, no, it wasn't because of Tatsuya and Jun's relationship.**_

_**This Persona 3 story isn't really going to follow a lot of the canon of the past Persona games, or even its own game. I'm taking a lot of liberties here with the source material(s), so please don't worry so much about the accuracy of the story. I'm just trying to write an entertaining fanfiction, not a simple retelling. That's why there's going to be a lot of elements and characters and moments that didn't happen in the original, for the sake of fun and entertainment.**_

_**With all that out of the way, ON TO THE CHAPTER!**_

* * *

"As you begin the new school year. I'd like each of you to remember the proverb-"

_God, what a day for me to forget my MP3 player. _Minato thought to himself. He stopped listening to the old man, presumably the principal of Gekkoukan almost immediately. _These speeches are always the same, why should I listen to this one_? As he attempted to simply zone out from the speech, he felt a hard tapping on his shoulder.

"Hey, you came to school with Yukari-san, right?" the student whispered.

"Yeah." Minato responded dismissively, trying to not pay attention to either the speech or the student behind him.

"Do you know if she has a boyfriend?" the student insisted on questioning Minato.

"Don't know, don't care." Minato coldly replied. "Please stop bothering me."

The student slightly shoved Minato's shoulder and raised his voice. "Jeez, no need to be a dick about it, dude."

"I hear talking!" A stern, older voice spoke loudly. "I believe it's coming from Ms. Toriumi's class!"

Upon the accusation, Toriumi turned towards the entire class. "Shh, you'll get me in trouble!"

Minato simply sat there, continuing to not pay attention to the speech, only coming back into reality when he realized everyone else was starting to stand and leave the auditorium.

* * *

The rest of the day was nothing noteworthy. Just the basic introduction to the school year and what to expect from each teacher's lesson plans. However, as the only transfer student in Ms. Toriumi's class, Minato was expected to introduce himself to the rest of the class, something he wasn't very keen on doing. After his lackluster introduction, he could already hear the whispers of surprise that Gekkoukan accepting a "delinquent from Kasu High", never mind the fact that these people had no idea he was the top of his class last year. They'd learn quickly.

Minato had decided near the end of the day to rest his head down and nap for the rest of the day. Nothing important was happening anyway, he felt he could get away with it. So as the final bell rang, awakening Minato, he was surprised to find a student standing over him in front of his desk.

"S'up, dude?" the student grinned.

"What do you want?" Minato yawned as he rubbed his eyes.

The student's grin faltered. "Harsh, dude. You haven't even given me a chance to introduce myself!" He feigned offense in that last statement.

"Stupei, leave him alone." Yukari sighed as she walked up to Minato's desk. "Have you ever thought that you may be bothering someone?"

The student, now identified as "Stupei" simply grinned and turned towards Yukari. "Hey, it's Yuka-tan! Don't worry, I'm just making friendly conversation." He turned towards Minato now and extended his hand. "Name's Junpei Iori. I was actually the last transfer student before you, so I thought I'd try to help you out a bit." Minato took his hand and stood eye to eye with Junpei.

"Thanks, but I'm good."

"But anyways, it's pretty interesting that all three of us ended up in the same class, huh?" Yukari spoke up.

"That's what we call 'fate', Yukari." Minato grinned slightly, causing Yukari to blush.

"Oh, stop it, Minato."

Junpei chuckled. "Oh man, I can see this is going to be a great year already! I mean, it's only the first day and people are already talking about you two!"

"Huh!?" Yukari gasped, surprised at the revelation.

"Oh really, Iori?" Minato replied. "Tell me more."

Junpei simply grinned and took a seat on top of Minato's desk. "Well, it's mainly because you two came to school together. The "delinquent from Kasu High" and the most popular girl at Gekkoukan coming to school together? Not hard to imagine what everyone's thinking."

Yukari's face was turning red every second Junpei was speaking. "Jeez, it's not like that, Stupei! We're in the same dorm, so of course we'd come to school together! We just met last night!" With that last statement, Yukari took a closer step towards Minato. "By the way, you didn't mention anything about last night, right?"

Minato simply sighed in frustration, already knowing where this was going. "Yukari-"

"L-last night?" Junpei repeated in disbelief, before turning towards the pair with a devilish grin, Yukari's face growing a look of horror as she realized what she said. "Oh man, you GOTTA tell me about that!"

Yukari didn't even attempt to explain herself, instead storming off in embarrassment. Junpei called out to her. "Hey Yuka-tan, relax! I'm just kidding!" He turned back towards Minato and chuckled lightly, noticing the look of annoyance on his face. "Look, Yuka-tan's my friend, dude. I'm just giving her a hard time."

"Look... Junpei, was it?" Minato asked, not really interested in continuing the conversation further. "I gotta get back to the dorm."

"Hey, why don't we walk home together?" Junpei questioned. "I know some good hang out spots at the mall, and it's a good chance to get to know each other."

"You know, funny thing is Yukari wanted to take me to the mall this morning, but those plans fell through." Minato mused. "Sure, let's go."

"Hell yeah!" Junpei excitedly exclaimed, putting his hand up for a high five. Minato simply walked past.

"No."

"Harsh."

* * *

During Minato's time hanging out with Junpei at Paulownia Mall, he attempted to familiarize himself with the various shops around the area, though Junpei constantly talking made it harder than he thought. He learned that Junpei was an avid gamer and a slacker, but overall he seemed like a nice enough guy. They had a discussion over the various rumors surrounding both Minato and his apparent relationship with Yukari.

"They're all bullshit anyways, dude. Just try to ignore them, they'll go away sooner or later."

"Yeah, it's just irritating that these people don't even know me, but think it's important enough to already start believing what kind of person I am based on the school I went to."

"Oh yeah, people think you're some kind of delinquent just 'cause you came from Kasugayama."

"Don't remind me. You know, I normally don't care what people have to say about me, but I worked my ass off to be the top of my class, not only at Kasugayama, but Sumaru City itself!"

"Dude, that's impressive as hell!"

Minato sighed. "The reputation of delinquency doesn't go away easily."

Junpei placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, bro. I'll help spread the word about you!"

"You'd do that?" Minato looked up in surprise.

"Yeah, man. Transferring is tough enough without having to deal with shitty rumors."

Minato found it hard to think of the words to say. Not many people had offered kindness on this level before.

"I appreciate it, Junpei. Thank you."

"Don't mention it, Minato." Junpei glanced at his phone. "Anyways, it's starting to get late. I gotta get home."

"Alright, Junpei, catch you later."

* * *

Minato had made it back to the dorm by the time the sun had began to go down. He walked into the dorm.

"Welcome back." Mitsuru greeted from her seat on the coach, barely looking up from a book she was reading.

"Hey." Minato responded, giving her a soft nod in his direction.

"Arisato, there are a few things we need to discuss." Mitsuru stated as she sat her book down on the coffee table in front of her.

"Firstly, the chairman will be here tomorrow night, if you wish to discuss your living arrangements."

"The man from my acceptance letter? Shuji Ikutsuki, was it?" Mitsuru nodded.

"Yes, Ikutsuki-san periodically visits the student dorms, and tomorrow night happens to be the time he comes to ours. I thought you would like to know."

"I appreciate that, Mitsuru-senpai."

"Secondly, there are a few regulations I neglected to mention last night, that I feel necessary to share. You are prohibited from leaving this dorm after 7:00 PM. This is a rule put in place by Ikutsuki-san, but there's a secondary curfew set in the entire Iwatodai area of 9:30 PM. It's rather dangerous in this area, so I assume Ikutsuki-san and Iwatodai officials want to keep us safe."

"Yeah, it really is dangerous around here. Last night certainly proved that."

Mitsuru, clearly not expecting that response, let her calm demeanor falter slightly. "I-I assure you, Takeba had no intention of firing on you. It's a model gun, used for intimidation."

"Doesn't explain everything else." Minato replied, and he knew he had her backed into a corner. He wanted answers, but he wasn't willing to fight for them. Yet.

"What are you implying, Arisato?"

"Kirijo-senpai, you cannot possibly expect me to be unaware of all the oddities going on last night. I walked through it, after all. The coffins, the blood, the power outage." Mitsuru's eyes widened. This confrontation was NOT something she had planned for, and Minato's smirk seemed to imply that's exactly what he had planned for. "It seems Yukari was aware of it, as well. She had asked me how my trip from the station was, and seemed nervous at my response of "What do you think?"

"I-I'm not sure I follow, Arisato. What are you talking about?"

Minato sighed. He figured this would be a hard fight, but he had to try at least once. "It's okay if you don't want to give me answers right now, Kirijo-senpai. But rest assured, I know, and I assume you know more about it than I do, since you two have proper protection."

"Is that a threat, Arisato?" Mitsuru raised her voice and stood from her seat.

"Not a threat at all, senpai." Minato responded. "Just a statement. I've been looking for answers for a long time, and I'm going to get them sooner or later." Minato began walking away. "I'll take my leave now."

_**Author's Note: I changed some text slightly, as it didn't fit my overall plan.**_


End file.
